When IDBI Federal Life Insurance's Vighnesh Shahane got life lessons from Ravi Shastri

Early life lessons have an intriguing way of coming back to you. For Vighnesh Shahane, CEO of IDBI Federal Life Insurance, the lessons he learnt from Ravi Shastri while playing at the Ranji level help him in his professional life. Shahane played for the Mumbai Ranji team from 1992 to 1995 with Shastri as captain. "Whatever I have learnt on the cricket field is probably far more than what I have learnt in any board room or classroom," he says. "When I am faced with a problem at work, I don't think about what I learned in business school, but how a captain handled a tough situation on the field. That is what gives me motivation and allows me to take decisions I would not take otherwise."

About Shastri's leadership skills, Shahane says, "Ravi instills in a team the confidence that they can beat anybody and that each one is a champion. The second thing about Ravi is that he took calculated risks and he always played to win. He never asked you to do anything that he would not do himself. That is what I try to do at work too.".